Mollie Bailey

While Japanese citizens grapple with the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left 10,800 dead and 16,200 missing, news from the Japanese sport horse industry is beginning to trickle out.

Managing director of the Japanese Equestrian Federation, Yasuhiko Haruta, struggled to track down news from horsemen immediately following the disaster.

The eventing bug has bitten this hunter/jumper professional hard, and there’s no turning back now.

From the outside, it looked a bit like a quarter-life crisis.

By 20, Amber Levine had capped a successful junior career and was enjoying a burgeoning young professional role on the West Coast hunter/jumper circuit. Riding for years with Susie Hutchison had prepared her for the next step in life, an assistant trainer gig with Ned and Hope Glynn at Sonoma Valley Stables in Petaluma, Calif.

On March 15 the Washington (D.C.) International Horse Show announced that they signed a contract with Verizon Center to extend its run there for the next three years. The show will remain at that venue through 2013. Show management had been renewing their agreement with the venue annually for several years.

Ask Louise Serio to describe the ideal hunter, and the answer’s right at the tip of her tongue: Castle Rock.

She’s not being immodest to name the horse she campaigns for Bryan Baldwin as the two-word description to that much larger question. The judges of the $32,875 World Champion Hunter Rider Palm Beach Professional Hunter Classic Spectacular confirmed that opinion on Feb. 18. They awarded Castle Rock the top check in the biggest class of WCHR week at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla., Feb. 16-20.

When Bjorn Ikast woke up this morning, he took one look out the window, turned to his wife and said, “There’s no way there’s going to be a grand prix.” The snow he saw covering everything drove him to climb back into bed, resigned that he’d have the afternoon off.

Yet a few hours later, with the morning’s flurries melted and just a few rogue flakes passing through the air, Ikast found himself in a familiar scenario: accepting the blue ribbon for the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix aboard Brave Heart.

Rodrigo Pessoa and Let’s Fly have been making a habit of putting in perfect first rounds in big classes lately. In the jump-off, however, things haven’t been going so well.

But with a serious check and precious FEI World Cup points on the line in the final East Coast qualifier of the season, Pessoa had plenty of incentive to reverse that trend when he headed into the short course for the $231,000 Wellington CSI-W on March 12.

The U.S. Hunter Jumper Association will be hosting open discussion forums at winter circuits this spring to listen to ideas and share information about developments in the sport. The exact locations, times and dates of most of the forums are approximate. Check back here, at the hosting horse shows or with the USHJA to confirm

FTI Winter Equestrian Festival Wellington, Fla.Tues, Feb. 22 at 3:00p.m. at the Special Events Pavillion (directly cross from the bridge). Discussion to be led by Geoff Teall.

Beezie Madden had made it through the first five weeks of the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival without leading a victory gallop in a major grand prix, but she corrected that error today. Madden rode Prima to the top of the $50,000 G&C Farm Palm Beach Jumping Derby.

The mare smoked through the timers 5.5 seconds faster than runner-up Ben Maher aboard Oscar. G&C Sinatra left all the rails up with Pablo Barrios up, picking up the best-conditioned award as well as the third-placed ribbon.

The U.S. Hunter Jumper Association will be hosting open discussion forums at winter circuits this spring to listen to ideas and share information about developments in the sport. The exact locations, times and dates of most of the forums are approximate. Check back here, at the hosting horse shows or with the USHJA to confirm

FTI Winter Equestrian Festival Wellington, Fla.Tues, Feb. 22 at 3:00p.m. at the Special Events Pavillion (directly cross from the bridge). Discussion to be led by Geoff Teall.

While the ring crew raised the fences for horses jumping 4’ in the first round of tonight's World Champion Hunter Rider Palm Beach Hunter Classic Spectacular, commentator Geoff Teall noted that hopefully these would be the most seasoned and impressive horses the spectators would see all night.